If you’ve been reading this website for any amount of time, then you know that one of the first things which the new Democratic majority in the Virginia state government has tried to do is to effectively turn Virginia into a state with gun laws as ludicrous as California.
One of the primary responses to these attempts at gun control is to declare a city or county a gun sanctuary. In fact, most of the cities and counties in the State of Virginia have declared themselves to be gun sanctuaries.
But one legal scholar, a former attorney general, says that the Virginia gun sanctuaries simply won’t stand up in court and are, therefore, a waste of time. This legal scholar, Mary B. McCord, writes,
Overblown alarm over reasonable gun-control laws proposed in statehouses across the country has led to a movement by various local governments declaring themselves Second Amendment “sanctuaries” — vowing to establish local jurisdictions where state gun laws that they view as unconstitutional will not be enforced. These resolutions, to the extent they conflict with state law, lack legal effect: In Tazewell County, Va., for example, the “Sanctuary Resolution” approved by the board of supervisors purports to prohibit any county employee from enforcing, and any county funds from being used for the enforcement of, new state gun laws the county deems unconstitutional. But Virginia state law prohibits local governments from enacting ordinances or resolutions that are inconsistent with state laws and, more directly, specifically prohibits local governments from regulating firearms.
Now, I completely disagree with McCord’s statement calling absurd and extreme anti-gun legislation proposed by radical anti-gunners in the Virginia state government “reasonable gun-control laws.” The fact of the matter is that there are no reasonable gun-control laws. The only reasonable gun control is hitting what you are shooting at.
I can’t, however, argue about whether gun sanctuary cities will stand up in court. McCord may be right about that while still being wrong on gun control. We’ll have to see.
But one thing that seems sure is that, while anti-gunners keep trying to push gun control laws (all of which are extreme), the #VAGunRightsRebellion will continue in full force.
It isn’t just this legal scholar. The legal scholars at several libertarian think tanks would agree that these resolutions have no force of law. The Constitutional lawyers at many libertarian think tanks have been reporting this for months – since before Virginia. The CATO Institute, Tenth Amendment Center, and the Mises Institute are just three. And if you know anything about (L)libertarians, they tend to be far more pro gun than most Republicans.
One recent article by TAC mentioned that one of the key differences between most all of these resolutions and the San Fran immigration sanctuary, is that San Fran has an actual ordinance – which has force of law – barring any City funds or employees from being used to enforce federal immigration laws. These gun sanctuary resolutions are no such thing.
Rallying support is great. False hope is not.
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